Master and Discord
by Lickity
Summary: Silence. This was the first thing that Sam Carter noticed first. Utter and complete silence. No sound of birds chirping, no rustling of wind through the trees, no cracking of wood from a fire. Nothing. Sam laid completely still, feigning sleep. S/J
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

Silence. This was the first thing that Sam Carter noticed first. Utter and complete silence. No sound of birds chirping, no rustling of wind through the trees, no cracking of wood from a fire. Nothing. Sam laid completely still, feigning sleep. Something was going on, something felt completely off.

_"Alright, use your senses Carter. What can you do without letting anyone know you're conscious?"_

Sam mentally surveyed her body. She was laying stomach down on the ground, a large rock pushing deep into her abdomen. Her shoulder hurt, without moving it she could feel the dull ache of a deep bruise forming on her right collar bone.

_"No broken bones, good."_

She could feel the pounding headache she associated with a head injury. The slowness of her thoughts was a good indication that she had a concussion. With her face to the side she could smell the faint air on wet earth. Something soft was propping her head up slightly from the ground. Her arms were lying at her sides, and Sam was able to feel the ground beneath her fingers. The ground felt cold and damp her touch. Through her closed lids, Sam couldn't make out any sign of bright light that would indicate it was day time. Her clothes felt wet, much more wet that what would have been absorbed by the moist ground. She felt like she must have been walking through a thunderstorm. Exhausting her other useful senses, Sam concentrated on her hearing again, knowing that the most prominent clues about where she was would come from that. She was drawn to a faint sound from her left, and quiet and almost unnoticeable draw of breath. Not deep and constant to indicate a sleeping person, but steadying. Sam lay and waited, still not wanting to give any indication to the other person in...Well wherever she was that she was awake.

_"What in the world happened?" _Sam asked herself. The last think she could remember was stepping out of the wormhole on P3X 258. It was supposed to be a simple survey mission. The UAV had picked up a strange rock structure a few clicks from the gate, and Daniel had jumped at the chance to take a look. Sam thought again to see if there was anything to indicate how she had gotten unto this position. They had been walking for about 45 minutes when the Daniel's allergies had begun to pop up. They had stopped for a few minutes so he could get some allergenic out of his pack. Then...well nothing.

Sam refocused her attention back on the steady intake of breath. A deep sigh suddenly was released. Sam had to control herself not to make a movement at the abrupt sound. She schooled herself as she heard a shuffling of feet move closer to her position. A body knelt down next to her; she could feel the eyes boring into her.

"Carter!" The voice snapped. "You can stop pretending to be asleep, we're safe."

Sam's eyes flew open and met the dark browns of her commanding officer. A slight smile graced his features. He looked both worried and relieved.

"Sir?" Sam asked curiously. Now free to exercise her main sense, Sam's eyes left the Colonels, and flew around the room. She was still confused. Apparently the two of them were in a room, which looked like a cave. Still from her position on the ground Sam could see damp rock walls meeting the wet dirt about a meter away. She made a motion to lift herself off the ground. Both the pain in her left shoulder and a firm hand on the small of her back halted her progress.

"I wouldn't try that again if I were you. You've got a pretty nasty injury up there."

Sam met his eyes again to see him looking down on her shoulder. Worry flooded onto his eyes, and Sam wondered what had happened for him to be so open with his concern. Sam racked her brain for any idea of what had happened to her. The more she thought, the more the pain in her head increased. From her slightly spinning vision, Sam was sure of her initial prognoses of a concussion.

"What happened, sir?"

"You were hit pretty bad," he said, his eyes flicking back to meet hers, "by some kind of dart thing. Knocked you out instantly."

Sam racked her brain for any memory of this, and found nothing.

"Ugh, a dart? Really?" Sam groaned, "It feels more like I was hit in the shoulder with a baseball bat." Sam closed her eyes as a severe blast of pain shot through her eyes. "I must have hit my head as well."

Sam felt along the back of her head and found a large bump on her crown. A dull ache worked its way her neck and into her right solder. It felt raw and hot.

"_A dart had caused this?"_

Sam wiggled her body so her stomach was relieved of the rock. She looked around the cave for any signs of the other two members of SG-1. Were they hit as well? Were they alive?

"Where are Teal'c and Daniel?"

"They are fine. It seems only you were lucky enough to get hit. We found no sign of any hostiles. It seems that this dart...or whatever it was came out of nowhere. I sent Danny and Teal'c back to the gate for a med team."

The Colonel's eyes flicked back to the wound on her shoulder once more, his eyes pinched together the same way he did when he was trying to understand something. What had happened out there? He'd only send back from a med team if something bad was going on. Usually they'd carry their wounded back to the SGC as Janet was much more capable of performing medical miracles on her own turf. Sending a med team, well that only happened if the patient could be moved, or if they were in hostile territory.

"Med team?" Sam once more attempted to get to her feet once more, party to once again release herself of that rock, but also to show her CO that she was perfectly capable of walking to the gate.

"Easy now," He said, placing his hand once again on the small of her back, "you shouldn't be moving it."

Probably resigning himself to the fact that she was not going to follow his suggestion, he slowly guided her up into a sitting position beside him. Sam felt blood pumping to her shoulder, and winced as a particularly large thump of blood sent waves of pain across her neck and into her head. A wave of nausea went through her as the ground lurched beneath her.

"Yes, Carter, med team," The Colonel replied, placing a hand on her shoulder to steady her, "After you were knocked out, Teal'c and Daniel went to scan the area for any indication of what hit you. I stayed with you and attempted to revive you." A long pause sat between then. His eyes once again portrayed the worry that she had seen before. "Once the storm started, I sent Daniel and Teal'c back to the gate. I carried you into this cave, and here we are." Sam looked around the cave once more and notice that rain could be seen cascading down through the opening 20 meters away. The bright flashes from lightning could barely been seen through the thick wall of rain. Sam looked back at the Colonel and watched him absently play with the cover of his watch.

"How long was I out?"

"About 3 hours." He opened his watch strap again and looked down at the time. "They probably got stuck in the rain as well."

Sam rubbed her left arm absently, trying to provide some feel of comfort back into it. She felt off, cold and very foggy headed. Though she didn't want to worry the Colonel any further, she knew this was a symptom of something that could not go unreported.

"Sir? Something doesn't feel right." Sam shook her head slightly, feebly trying to rid her brain of its confusion.

She could feel him drawing her closer, his fingers drawing light circles on her right arm.

"It's alright Sam. You're safe here with me."

Sam rested her head down on his shoulder and promptly fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Sam woke suddenly, her head now leaning against the cave wall. The intense pounding that had once been her headache had now dulled to a deep throb. By the way her vision blurred Sam suspected that she had not slept away all of her head injury.

"Sir?" She called out, looking around her for any indication of the Colonel's presence.

The cave was quite bit larger than she had originally thought. Off to her left Sam could just make out an opening into a deeper area of the cave. It was much darker than it was earlier, and as Sam looked down to the entrance to the right, she could see just see the moon light reflecting off the drops of rain.

"_Doesn't look like the rain's going to end any time soon."_

Sam looked around herself searching for her radio. It was doubtful that there would be much reception in the cave, but she thought she should at least try to contact the Colonel, and see if she could get anything from Daniel or Teal'c. Looking down at her discarded vest Sam noticed that the spot which normally held her radio was empty. Odd... Taking more things out of her pack, Sam couldn't find any indication of where it could have gone. She knew she had to eat something soon. Her body needed strength to work through some of her injuries. And the fact is it was never smart to be low on energy on an alien planet. Pushing aside the protests from her rolling stomach, Sam forced down an energy bar she found at the bottom of her pack. She reached over with her right arm and dragged the Colonel's pack closer. She had only just begun to remove things when she heard the shuffled footsteps of someone approaching from deep in the cave. A light beam turned a corner into her area, and Sam could just make out the figure of a man approaching.

"Good! You're awake!" Jack O'Neill came strolling into their makeshift camp carrying a flashlight.

She gave him a meek smile. "Where'd you go?" She asked.

"Just scouting out our new home. Looks like we might be here a while yet." The Colonel looked down at a few of their belongings scattered in front of her and gave her a questioning glace. "Looking for something in particular?"

"Radio. Thought I could get in contact with Daniel and Teal'c and well, you, sir." She finished lamely.

"Ah well." He looked down at strewn contents of his bag curiously, and the back up at Sam, "I heard from them about an hour after you decided to take a nap. They are holed up in some cave near the gate. Signal was pretty weak, but I think that Teal'c is trying to make Daniel eat this planet's equivalent of a rat. Danny didn't seem too interested."

Sam smiled, and could just picture the revulsion on Daniel's face at Teal'c suggestion.

"So! I haven't seen any rats yet; it looks like it's just traditional MRE's for us. What are you craving tonight? Mac and cheese? Spaghetti and meatballs?" The Colonel held up each of the suggested MRE's and raised his eyebrows suggestively.

Sam grimaced, a plain energy bar was one thing, but she didn't think she'd be able to keep down a whole meal.

"Ah, neither for me, sir. I don't think I'd be able to hold one of those down." At his worried expression she added, "I had an energy bar a little while ago. I'll be alright."

"Well then, Carter, I believe that I will have to enjoy the USAF house pasta on my own tonight." He smiled at her suggestively, and she couldn't hold back another smile.

After building a small fire, and wrapping themselves in their sleeping bags, Sam was finally able to at last feel warm. She brought her mind back to the incident which had brought them to this cave.

"Colonel," Sam started, placing her water canteen back into her bag, "you said that Daniel and Teal'c never found anyone around where I was hit, right? What would be the purpose of just shooting someone, and running off with no real ill effects to the victim? I mean, despite the injuries I got from the fall, all that the dart did was just knock me out. Doesn't seem like a very smart tactical decision considering there were three other people around me."

The Colonel stared at her for a moment as if considering her words. "I don't know, Carter. Perhaps they thought that we would all scatter when you were hit." He paused, looking her in the eyes, "All I know is that Daniel and Teal'c couldn't find anything, and it didn't come back to the scene of the crime. Apart from that, well, some villager might have mistaken you for an animal or something. Don't be too concerned about it. As soon as we get back to the SGC we'll get Frasier to check you out."

Sam cast her CO a questioning look. Since when had he been so unconcerned about a member of his team being hit during a mission, especially when perpetrator had yet to be found? Sam kept staring at him as he prepared tea. Maybe she hit her head harder than she thought. Something about this situation had her on edge. Maybe she was worse than she thought, and he was trying not to let her know. He might be trying to ease her mind by making the situation out to be a small deal. No, she was alright. Her headache was slowly fading, and although her mind was not nearly as clear as it usually was, she was at least beginning to think logically.

She suddenly felt a hot object being pressed into her hands. She looked down and saw a steaming cup of tea.

"Thanks," Sam muttered.

The Colonel cast her searching look, and then smiled. "Don't worry, Carter. We'll be out of here in no time." He took a sip of his own tea, "Drink up, it's cool now."

Sam took a light sip of her tea, and felt the warm sweetness sooth her cold body. It was really good tea, nothing like she had ever tried before. She took another sip and settled back into her sleeping bag.

"_I must be over reacting. Like I said, the dart didn't really do anything wrong. Daniel, Teal'c and the Colonel are fine, and if the rain breaks, we'll all be back at the SGC in the morning." _

Sam looked back at the Colonel and found him staring into the fire. Now this was more like the Colonel she knew— quiet and broody. "Where'd you get the tea?" Sam asked smiling slightly as she forcefully broke his concentration. "This is nothing like the stuff usually packed in standard field rations. It's very good."

O'Neill looked up from the fire, and caught her eye, "Oh, just somewhere in my travels." He paused as he took another sip, and then asked, "So, tell me about that new naquadah generator you've been building."

Sam, stunned at the out of the blue question, chocked on her tea. Jack O'Neill, beginning a conversation about _physics_? She really must have hit her head harder than she thought. Actually, now that she thought about it, Sam was starting to fell slightly off again. Her body wasn't responding the way it usually did. She leaned her to head back on the cave wall again, and looked over at her CO.

"Well, I'm using the strong force found within all atoms to make the generator more effective." Sam explained without putting her usually energy into the words, "Using this new model we can get a more efficient prototype and..." she paused. Usually it was at this point that the Colonel stopped her. She looked into his eyes, trying to see if he was leading her on. All she saw was genuine interest. Sam continued, "Well, it would be a great benefit off world."

His eyes were still on hers, and a light smile graced his features. "Well, that's great. Any other secret projects you are working on? Any Invisibility cloaks? Maybe a few personal time machines?"

Sam chuckled lightly, feeling tension completely leave her body. "No sir." Then she returned his smile with one of her own. "Not yet anyways."

His smile widened into a full out grin. "Well then Carter, there is hope for you yet."

They sat in silence for a few moments, Sam still savouring her tea, and the Colonel again looking into the fire. It was several minutes before the Colonel spoke again, his voice deeper and commanding.

"Tell me about how the iris works."

She could feel the words flow out of her mouth without even thinking why her CO was asking her such a thing. "It's controlled by a series of computer programs, each one backed by a firewall. Without the manual access of the hand-print reader, a 128 digit code needs to be entered to access the program."

She tried to lift her head to meet her CO's eyes.

"It..." Sam started again, her tongue feeling too heavy to lift.

She could feel something completely wrong now. She needed to let him know that something was going on with her. Something was definitely wrong. With as much effort as she could manage, Sam slowly lifted it up and met a characteristic smirk on the face of Jack O'Neill.

"Something wrong Sam?" He said with sarcastic worry in his eyes, "Something wrong with the tea?" He lifted his mug to his lips and took the last draught from his mug. "Mine seems fine."

The last thing Sam saw before she succumbed to darkness was an expression she had never seen on the Colonel's face. One of complete loathing.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

The third time in a day Sam awoke confused. This was getting very annoying. The sight of her commanding officer at ease and paddling around the camp caused the threat assessment part of her brain to pause.

"What happened?" Sam asked, her mind aching, and her brain working overtime to catch up.

He stopped what he was doing, and turned to look at her, a smile tugging at his lips. That smile reminded her of something- a vague memory, and then it all came flooding back to her. The tea, the questions, and maniacal grin on the man's face. The realization must have show on her face as the man's smile turned into a full grin.

"Remembering, are we?" The wording and tone was exactly one she would expect her CO to say. Sam cringed at the familiarity the question brought forth. She looked at him, her mind still sorting through the situation as she studied his face. Nothing outwardly about the man gave away clues of his duplicity. If he hadn't let her know, hadn't forced her to drink that tea, she would have no clue this imposter wasn't Colonel O'Neill.

---

That had been four hours ago, since then the ties that bound her had been checked twice, and a gag had been wrapped around her mouth after her unsuccessful attempt at getting the radio. The man was comfortable simply carrying out tasks around the camp, soaking the fire, making meals, and apparently 'investigating further into the cave'. He would just leave for short periods of time, making sure that her bonds were secured, and then walk away for 30 minutes.

It was a strange situation. Regardless of how uneasy her thoughts were about her predicament, the sight of her commanding officer moving around the camp unconsciously put her at ease. Sam had to remind herself that this was not the man she admired, the friend she cared about. Whatever, or whoever he was, he had access to some if not all of the knowledge that came with the Colonel's body. But, there was one thing Sam knew for certain; this was not her commanding officer.

One good thing that the forced sleep did for her was clear her head a bit. Her memories about the attack that had gotten her into this situation were still muddled, but at least she was now able to think clearly about what was happening on now. The fuzziness still lingered in her brain, but she had managed to stay awake for the past four hours with little distraction except watching the man. She had to stay sharp, stay very aware. It was too easy for her to get lulled into a false sense of security. The sight of the Colonel moving around the camp was too familiar, and Sam had to make sure she didn't slip for a moment.

The man caught her eye and grinned that oh so familiar grin as if he were reading her mind.

"What's wrong Sam?" He chuckled again, and Sam responded the only way she could, she glared at him.

"Now, Sam," The man continued while stirring a pot on the fire, "Is that any way to treat a superior officer?"

He paused again to check on the MRE's. "If you are good, I won't have to do anything we both don't want me to do."

Sam closed her eyes, and resigned herself, for the time being, that she had to see how this situation played out. So far, the ball was in his court, and before she could begin to form a plan for escape she had to figure out what he wanted with her, and Jack O'Neill. They sat in silence again. Maybe the man realized that Sam wasn't going to rise to his bait as he settled back into preparing their meal.

It was a little while later when Sam was startled from her daydream to a warm had placed on her knee. She realized her head injury must still be taking its toll as she never would have allowed her mind to become so absent in a hostile situation. Her gag had been removed, and Sam could smell the aroma of their partially editable MREs.

"Food." The man said that word in such a Jack O'Neill way that it made Sam smile back in appreciation. She quickly caught her mistake and gave the man a quick glare.

"Now there is a glint of the Carter I remember." He said as he bent to loosen the ties on her hands to she could eat.

Carter's eyes widened at that statement. She was tempted to yell at the man, release the anger that slowing building up in her, use her newly freed hands to hurt the man. But she realized that wasn't the best way to go about things. If this man claimed to know everything that Colonel O'Neill knew, then he'd know how to get under skin, and he definitely knew how to protect himself from her. And he'd know it was easier to get under her skin when she was mad. So instead she kept a cool face, raised her eye brow and said a simple, "Oh?"

"You'd be surprised, Samantha, you'd be very surprised. I know a lot more about you than you think." He grinned in his infuriating way and took a bite of his food, and passed hers over with a plastic fork. "Your full name Samantha Jane Carter, a Major in the United States Air Force. Your father's name is Jacob Carter, and your mother died in a car crash over 20 years ago. You have one brother, Mark Carter who lives in San Francisco, with his wife and children. You are 35, though hardly look a day over 30. 135 pounds and you are 5'9 if I remember correctly."

He raised an eyebrow to her, and gave her a cocky grin. Sam wasn't convinced, though it was true that he knew a lot more about her than any run-of-the-mill alien, it still didn't tell her the extent of his knowledge. She needed to get more out of him. See how far into Jack O'Neill's mind this alien went.

"All of that information could be found in my file. Hell, even a general search on the internet could come up with that much." Sam started, "This doesn't convince me of anything."

"Well, I or should I say Jack O'Neill knows things about you that not many other people know," He paused dramatically, and waited for a reaction out of Sam. She gave away nothing. "Despite being in the military, your true love is in astrophysics, and you graduated with top honours from the united air force academy with that degree. You were the president of the Physics and Astronomy club at the academy. You love to spend you Saturday nights curled up on the couch with a glass of wine watching old Sci-Fi reruns. You say your favourite dessert is chocolate cake, but we all know you would pass that over for a big bowl of blue Jello. You strangely think that talking to your plants helps them grow better." He shot her a strange look, and then continued, "And to top this all off, you are a secret lover of romance novels. Really Sam, what would the general think if he knew you smuggled one off world with you."

Sam unconsciously blushed at the last bit; she didn't know the colonel knew about that. Without a doubt, this man knew more about her than some simple search on the internet would provide.

Sam grabbed her meal to hide her blush and eased some noodles into her mouth with the limited range of her hands as he continued, "You once told me, admittedly after quite a bit of alcohol, that once this war was over the thing you would first do take a month long vacation in New Zealand. Apparently the sky is wonderful there. To tell you the truth, he was very tempted by your offer."

He said no more, but Sam definitely remembered that conversation, and the offer that followed it. It a couple years ago, before Daniel had ascended, right after they had returned helped Teal'c recover from his brainwashing. It was a team night, organized by the Colonel to boost sprits, and the night included a lot of alcohol. Too much alcohol. Sam had had one too many beers, and begun talking to the Colonel about her hopes and dreams. Thankfully she stopped before she got to the good stuff, but it was enough to make her avoid her CO for the next few days. Sam took another bite of her food, her eyes scanning the ground rather than his face.

"I could tell you things about O'Neill if you still need convincing, about his sad life's story. I could answer any questions you've ever wanted to know about his dark as mysterious past. But by the look on your face I think you've been suitably impressed."

And she was. He had proved that he at least had access to some if not all of O'Neill's memories. His actions and habits alone were enough for her to doubt that this alien had just taken control of the Colonels body, but the amount of information he held was enough to dispel any doubts. There was one thing that still really nagged at Sam's mind. Why ask her all those questions about the SGC? Jack O'Neill knew enough information for the alien to easily get to Earth. All he needed to do was impersonate the Colonel long enough to get back through the gate. The ease at which Sam was able to believe this man was her CO was proof enough that he was a good actor. No, this man was not just after Earth, there had to be something else going on. If he had access to all of O'Neill's memories then he would know what a tactically stupid move it was to reveal yourself this early in the game. She, herself had nothing to lose. Her best way to get out of this was for the man to lay all his cards on the table.

"If you know all of these things," She started, looking into the man's eyes, "If you have access to all the knowledge the Colonel has about the SGC, why were you asking me all those questions earlier? You could have easily posed as Jack O'Neill. You could have just kept me out of the game long enough to get back to the gate, get to the SGC and from there it'd be like child's play. Why drug me? Why ask me all those questions?"

He was quiet for a while, his hands fiddling with a small stick, pealing the bark from its length. She was struck by how much of a Jack O'Neill habit he was performing. He always had something in his hands. Always fiddling. The man finally halted his fidgeting, and looked up at her, as if coming to a decision.

"Well, it's not the SGC I'm after, it's you." Her eyes widened, and a thousand other questions came to find, along with an honest fear for her safety that hadn't been known to her before. His eyes smiled at her reaction, and he continued, "I'm glad you asked about the tea. That's something I'm particularly proud of. I'm not going to give you the long boring outline of how I came to this body, as I'm sure Daniel would appreciate it much more than you, but let's just say I used to have a body of my own. And I wasn't always in the business of stealing other people's. But, well, things happen as they do and here we are. But on my travels I happened across a rare herb. When I learnt more about its special properties, I was able to get a good supply to carry around with me. Once I found out this planet was on SG1s mission list, I was able to stash a good supply in this cave. As for its properties, well, you've given a very good demonstration for only a few of its capabilities. "

He took another few bites of his food, and Sam just stared at him, blown away by the implications of suggestions. He was after her. He knew they were planning to come to this planet. Oh god, that meant that there was a mole at the SGC. Sam closed her eyes, her thoughts overwhelming her momentarily. It was all coming down on her now. She was trapped off world with a man impersonating her commanding officer. A man that had the means to get any information out of her that he wanted. For all she knew of the drug, it could make her do whatever he wanted. The alien was impersonating the one man who would go above and beyond to get her out of this situation. That fact seemed to mock her every time she looked at him. Who knows where Daniel and Teal'c really were, or if they were even alive? If she was right by her calculations, they had only been out of contact with the SGC for about 24 hours, not long enough for anyone to worry.

No, she couldn't think like that. Daniel and Teal'c could very well be at the SGC right now, know of her situation, and sending a team through the gate right now. It was her mission to get as much information out of this imposter as possible, and find out what he wanted, specifically what he was with her. She opened her eyes with new determination, and willed herself not to see her CO, but the alien for who he was.

"Who _are_ you?"

The alien sighed and threw the stick in the fire.

"My real name is of no importance. For now you may call me Terin."

"So, Terin, what is it in particular that you want with me?" Sam asked.

"You, Samantha Carter have a wide array of knowledge that I would like access to, as well as some very handy skills." Terin smiled in such a way that Sam knew he wasn't just talking about her proficiency with computers.

Sam eased back on the rock wall behind her, careful of her shoulder and resigned herself to her situation for the meantime. The number one objective was to learn more, hopefully before he moved onto the next portion of his plan. The she could think about escape, and worry about getting this maniacal alien out of the Colonel's body.


End file.
